Many businesses invest heavily in powerful and thoughtful strategic initiatives, but all too often the key messages don’t resonate company wide. Employees may remember a particular campaign, or an announcement, but they’re not truly connected with the company’s vision, values, and the individual role they have to play. The goal of strategic alignment is to get people inspired so they can share and champion company messages with their peers. To do this, leaders should learn to master storytelling – the bridge that transforms strategic efforts into meaningful, relatable, and inspiring narratives.
Like people, organisations have stories. These stories create and sustain their culture. They are the roots that provide the anchor and life force that make it possible for new branches of the business to grow. They remind people what is important, connecting them back to the company’s mission and sense of purpose.
As humans, we are hardwired to respond to stories. From cave walls to podcasts, storytelling has been a powerful means of connection and a way to make narratives memorable throughout history. It’s also an incredibly effective way to make meaning resonate. Facts alone don’t stick – but stories do, 22 times more effectively, according to cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner.
We believe the most impactful workplace storytellers aren’t just the leaders on stage – they are employees at every level. By equipping your people with the skills to tell authentic and compelling stories about your organisation’s purpose and strategy, you can create a ripple effect that inspires real change across the company.
In our learning and leadership solutions, we teach a proven formula for effective storytelling, designed to engage and inspire listeners. Drawing inspiration from the techniques used by Disney, Marvel, and Spielberg, we show how lessons from the masters of storytelling can be applied to corporate narratives.
Our 5-step approach to storytelling that inspires change:
- The big picture
Help employees understand the organisation’s broader mission and how their role contributes to it. - Top five takeaways
Identify the core messages employees need to communicate and bring to life in their own words. - The magic thread
Create a central narrative that connects strategy, culture, and personal experience to reinforce meaning. - Shift thinking, change behaviour
Use storytelling techniques to develop employee confidence in sharing stories that inspire others to think and act differently. - Transforming performance
Support employees with tools, training, and ongoing practice to embed storytelling into everyday conversations, meetings, and initiatives.
Stories engage the brain in ways data alone cannot. Neuroscience shows that when we hear a well-told story, we don’t just listen – we feel. This emotional connection makes storytelling one of the most effective tools for influencing behaviours and embedding cultural change. From the Forbes article, The Power of Corporate Stories – “Kelly McGonigal explains in her book The Neuroscience of Change, hearing a story activates more parts of the brain than viewing slides with bullet points full of data can. By stimulating what is known to be the ‘mirror neuron’ system, stories make the listener feel as if they are in the shoes of the people in the story and experiencing the same sensations and emotions.”
When storytelling becomes part of an organisation’s DNA, messages no longer feel like corporate directives. Instead, they become powerful, direct, personal narratives that employees carry forward. This approach turns strategy into shared purpose, fostering a culture where people don’t just understand change – they lead it.
NKD worked with a National Transport Provider to train employee champions in storytelling, helping them drive engagement and bring their company’s transformation journey to life. You can read more about this project here.
Through our solutions, employees gain the confidence and capability to verbalise their company’s values and mission. In safe spaces, people are able to practice, refine, and share stories that bring strategy to life in a way that’s both memorable and meaningful.
Want to build a culture of storytelling in your organisation? Get in touch with NKD today.